Strange Fates
by somethingspeciallikecake
Summary: Bella is as old as civilization and grasping at straws for the meaning of life, who will show it to her, Edward, or do things in the Cullen family take a twist, leaving her with another?
1. Chapter 1

OK!

I have revised and edited much of Strange fates. The story wasn't going the way I needed it to, and my Beta has gone missing. If you would like to be mine. Let me know. Sorry for all the weird clogs your inbox might have if you have put my story on your alert. Please reread these chapters, there are small changes, and there are major changes that I have made to make it soooo much better. Let me know what you think of the changes, or if this is your first read, let me know what you think over all.

Have a great day!!!!!

Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all twiligh characters. I just play with them.

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"Brun, I think she's coming to."

My eyes cracked open to the searing white light hiding behind my eyelids.

_Are you sure?_

Of course I'm sure. I'm always sure. I'm dying. It was finally time for me to leave this forsaken planet to do as it wills without me. I am sure of it.

_Do you really want this? Don't you want to meet the one who waits for you?_

No, of course not. I can't wait for him through this tragedy any longer. He would have to keep waiting until the next life, right?

_No. You are not allowed to leave him. It's time you meet him. Time you learned what it means to be alive. No more dying. You are no longer allowed to leave this body. I will take that ability from you. Enjoy immortality._

No more dying. Does that mean I can no longer reach the peace it brings? Does that mean I will no longer have you to carry me around?

_Yes, it is time for you to be alone in your own head, little one. Time for you to learn how to be alive. Sadly, the only way for that to happen is if you die. Die sweetly, alone._

I sighed and rolled did she mean? Die to lean to live. If I die one more time I swear it will be the last true death. The sweet darkness of endless night always calls me back, this time will be no different.

"We've lost her, she's dead."

I sighed again and closed myself off for a while. I was where I wanted to be; I was in the dark sweet cold of the abyss. There was naught that could drag me from this place, or so I thought.

When I came to, I distantly heard a thumping above me. Soft piles, like cotton, were falling on me. They were slowly, but surely cutting me off from the world. I briefly understood that I was being buried alive. Alive? I am sure I am dead though. How could I be alive?

No, not alive, I knew that I wasn't alive any more. I couldn't hear my heart beating in my chest, nor my lungs asking for air. I was no longer alive, and yet, the world went on around me. I could hear it. People walked on above me. Sometimes just a few, sometimes thousands all marching at the same beat. _Army, _my mind distantly thought.

I just laid there in my grave listening to the world continue around me. I knew it was changing. I could hear it. I could hear so many things I had no name for. _Horse and carriage, music, people,_ my mind told me.

Are you there anymore? I asked hoping to hear my voice of reason, my savior. Silence. She held her promise. For the first time in my life my thoughts were truly my own. What should I do? Nothing, I thought. I will do nothing but wait and listen.

So I listened. I listened to the world change; I listened to its creation. I heard so many things that made my restless mind turn. What was becoming of my home? I heard as people fell, and people rose. Everything was changing into something so different from what I went to sleep to. Would I recognize my home if I ever left this place? Would it even still be there?

Soon, I began to feel trickling in the back of my head. I needed to get out of here. I needed to smell fresh air; I needed to see the new world. I knew it was different than when I went to sleep, though what it was like now was only a vague shadow in my mind.

I pushed my mind down and searched for the body I was hopefully still attached to. I found it. Twisted up in the rotting cloth I had been buried in. Slowly I could feel my fingers again, or what I hoped to be my fingers. They felt smaller, emptier, but that could just be my imagination.

I slowly let my body come back to me, slowly letting feeling return to my outer extremities. I somehow knew that if I allowed feeling to return to my insides, I would be done for. I could feel the hunger of a thousand years like a distant echo in my mind. I used my newfound limbs to reach out and push against the surface that was holding me._ Dirt _my mind though, very hard, caked, dirt. It was so hard it was practically stone.

I pushed, and though for a moment I thought that it should be too hard for me to press through, but my fingers slid through it like water. Easy, swiftly, my hands and legs began to propel me through the ground towards what I knew was the surface; the world reborn.

I pushed my way carefully not sure what would be meeting me at the surface, but I was sure I would like it. I just _knew_ it. When my fingertips broke the surface, coldness settled through my body, making me shudder from the intense new feeling. I don't think I had ever felt a cold, so beautiful, it made my thoughts reel.

I only paused for a few seconds before speeding up and pulling myself out faster. I had to have more of this new feeling, more of anything other than the warm, hard, dirt. I pulled myself out with a gasp. It was like a sudden chill that bowed my spine.

I lay there for a few moments, half buried in the ground, just relishing in wonder. What was it that made me feel this way? Slowly, I pulled myself up, and for the first time opened my eyes in this new world. What I saw took my breath away.

White, or rather blue, stared back at me. _Snow, _my mind immediately told me. The ground was covered in white fluffy snow. It looked like soft, very soft, white blue clouds who'd come to greet me.

I laid my head down on them, pulling the rest of my body up unto its cold embrace, and took a big breath, my first, to smell them. What I smelled, however, was not as comforting as the snow. No, this smell was too sweet, too sickly. It made my throat **burn**.

My limbs suddenly found their strength, and before I could even think, my body had pulled itself into a standing position. My eyes, finally awake, took in my surroundings with disbelief. _Where was I?_

_Home, _my thoughts told me. I looked out into the distance and recognized the familiar mountains. They were the same, yet… different. I quickly looked around myself and had to double check. There were strange structures, so many of them, I thought they would never end.

I tried to remember back if there had ever been structures like this before, but I couldn't. Where was my home which I had struggled so hard to build? I remembered how all the village males had thought that a woman building lodging was wrong, and how I had struggled through blood and sweat to build it. Where was my home?

I took a sharp breath and was reminded of why I had shot up so suddenly._ That_ smell hit me again. It was so intoxicatingly sweet, so rich. I needed it. My ears pricked and my body crouched. Where was it? Now that I had opened my ears to the world I could hear it.

Constant thumping sounds that made me salivate with every beat. I could hear other noises too. The rats below me, and ants marching not too far away. There were so many new sounds to listen to. I couldn't remember ever hearing so much noise in my life. I looked around me and froze at the sight in front of me.

There was a man standing a few feet from me, he was staring intently at me. He had long brown hair, and was dressed in a single length of white fabric. _Toga,_ my mind answered. He looked as if he had just seen a cow give birth to a chicken. I almost laughed.

Seeing a strange, probably naked, woman climbing out of the ground would surprise anyone. I stood up and took another breath. I lost my senses again. What I had smelled earlier was him. Not him exactly, but what he _was. _That is what I had been smelling.

I knew instantly that we were not of the same species. I was different than him. I was something other, something no longer human. I couldn't dwell on it long, though. I needed him. I wasn't sure what I needed from him but I was already stalking towards him. I needed to stop the burn.

He saw me advancing and took a step backward. I took four. He started moving backwards to escape, but it was futile. For every one of his steps I took five. I knew that I couldn't let him escape. Suddenly I was on him.

I wrapped my arms around him carefully, _knowing_ if I applied too much pressure he would break. I wrapped my arms around his much bigger frame, and although I was much smaller, my hold was enough to still him.

"Thank you." I muttered quietly before laying my lips on his neck. I _knew_ that I needed his blood. I didn't know why, only that I did. He was saying something in a language I didn't understand. He was saying the same thing over and over again, like a prayer.

I sighed, and listened, even though I couldn't understand his words. I need it, I thought regretfully and bit down into his skin. Ah, it was perfectly delicious. Sweeter than everything I could remember, though that wasn't much.

I drank until he no longer gave to me. Then I dropped his now limp body and stared at his lifeless body. What had I just done? I couldn't remember the punishments for taking another life, but I knew they were harsh. I needed to move him.

I picked up his body, it was so much bigger than mine, yet it was easy to move. As soon as I had him cradled in my arms I started walking forward. Where to hide him? Maybe his home would be best. Where did he lay his head?

I thought about it for a few seconds and realized that I knew how to find his home. I_ knew_ that if I followed his smell I would find where his home. I raised my nose to the air and took a few breaths. I could smell where he had come from. It was only a short walk from here.

I ran towards his home. As I started running I noticed how my run was different than before. It was faster, _so_ much faster than I was used to. It was just as easy as walking. I was never out of breath, and I didn't feel a burn in my muscles from exertion like I should. I arrived at his home quickly. I listened closely until I was sure there was no one inside. Then I opened his door and stepped in.

It was a small little lodging with only a few rooms. I left him in his bedroom, on his bed, as if he had died in his sleep. I remembered a lot of people used to die this way, for no explainable reason. I laid him there and went to explore the rest of his home.

There was a fireplace, and a place with little contraptions that seemed to be meant to sit on. I only ever had a bed and a fireplace in my home. To me it was lavish, but I _knew_ that it wasn't in comparison with the other homes out there. It was comfortable. I sat down in one of the seats and sighed.

What now? I had no idea where I was, no clue what I was supposed to do, and I didn't even have any clothing. Well, I could rectify one of those things. I went back into his room and looked about for clothing fabric. I found some hiding in one corner and picked it up.

How should I dress myself with it? It only took me a moment before I _knew_ that all I had to do was twist it around my body a few times, and tear some here and there, and that I would be dressed. After a few moments I was wearing the common style of dress for women in this era.

It was a simple wrap that covered everything but my arms and tied around the waist. I was dressed. I still needed to find out where I was. _Rome, you are in Rome, _I suddenly realized and knew it to be true. I was in Rome just after the execution of a man named Jesus, who was the messiah for many people. The Roman Empire is close to it's end.

I heard a noise in the doorway and spun around to see what it was. _Another of your kind_. My mind told me, _Kill him_. So I did.

Sometime in the 1600's.

I stared out at the sunset, it was so bright, so shiny. Sun up, and sun down. That was the tone of all my days_. Look for the one who waits_, she had said, I looked for him and have not found him. Instead, what I have found is glory. The glory of always being someone while being no one. Day after day, I proved to others that I could not be conquered. I am free, they are not. I am in control, they lost it.

Vampire, they call me. Beast of the night. All these things they call me, and yet, they have never named me. What, or who I am, is still a mystery. I see the curiosity in their eyes. They want to know about me. They want to know the story behind their master.

I was all now, I was no one too. The Vulturi had named me a power unto myself, but they had also made it so I am not known to just anyone. I just sit here now, waiting, for a voice, a thought, something to drag me out of this stupor I have let myself fall into again.

Every now and then they send a new one down, a child wanting to test it's power against The Power. They all fail. I sit under their city in the floor furthest from the surface until it is time to watch the falling and rising of the sun and the moon again. I am now called Isabella. Beautiful, they call me, Power, they say to me.

I am the strongest being there is in this world, the smartest, fastest, all knowing being that used to be worshipped as a goddess. I am me. I am anything I want to be. The sad part is, I have nothing to live for. She told me I would never die again, but when do I actually get to live?

I see it in the thoughts of all the surface dwellers. The ones the sun together out of this emotion called love, those watching it out of hate for its beauty. Even those who watch it so they can come out to play in the world again. Beauty, hate, curiosity, wonder, all these emotions created by one glowing orb in the sky.

I sigh and lean back in my chair. I am tired, so very tired, of watching things always through other's thoughts. Emotions, I cannot seem to comprehend them, but yearn to feel. Only one emotion I do know, yearning. I yearn for blood, for emotion, for another. I never stop wanting.

Blood I abandoned years ago. Emotion, I cannot remember. Another, I have not found him. I would even take a her if it would just complete me the way I've I heard so many others be completed. Maybe it's time to go search for him again, maybe I can go try this new place. America, they call it, the place of dreams.

I sigh and turn my head, maybe in a few hundred years. Soon, soon I shall find him. If I do not, it will be time to throw myself into the fire and see if I burn as all the rest do. I open my ears and close my eyes, and listen as the world changes, again.

January fifteenth, two thousand and one.

I watch them closely as I walk through the airport terminal. Flying, truly flying, is such a simple thing now days. Long ago it seemed like a distant dream. The Wright brothers were given all the credit for these contraptions, but whoever made the comfort of these modern planes should have it all.

I have been away from the Volturi for a hundred years now. I came to America on ships so full of people it unsettled my stomach. Comfort was not their main point. I had traveled this country backwards and forwards, and yet I have not found it. I played through the southern wars, and watched as the country shaped itself to be perfect. A home for all who came.

I was now on my way to a small town called Forks, Washington. I had heard of a clan there called the Cullen's. They were a little different than other vampire's. They abstained to only the blood of animals. I supported them full heartedly, it was a step towards completely abstaining from blood. Someday, they would not need blood at all.

They didn't believe the idea, so they never saw it as a goal. I was here to change those thoughts, to help them complete their dreams. They didn't want to be monsters, they wanted to be as normal to humans as possible.

I thought that it was almost comical that they tried so hard to be human. It was an honorable thought, but we would never be human. They just needed to accept that they were not human and move on. It would make them so much happier, so much more complete.

I walked through the airport thinking about what kind of car I would want to own. Something that would attract attention was out of the question. Something that didn't go fast was even further out of the question. It was a hard decision and I settled for a small black mustang. It didn't stand out, and it wasn't slow.

I had learned that the Cullen "children" went to the local high school, and to keep up appearances, so would I. When I died I may have been twenty, but I looked to be about eighteen or seventeen. Too young to be out of school and not attract attention. So for the first time in my life I would be going to school. Everyone had always seemed to hate the place, so I hoped that it would at least be tolerable.

First thing first, I need to find a new home and prepare for school. It would be starting in about four hours. I would be starting as Isabella Swan, seventeen years old. I had made the papers out that I was considered old enough and responsible enough to be living on my own. It took care of the parent issue. I would not need a job because when my parents died they left me enough to live on the rest of my life. My story was solid.

I found an empty house that was pushed far back away from the town and placed all my things inside. I had twenty minutes to dress and be ready for school. I needed to turn on the electricity, water, and pack my backpack. I quickly did all of those things, redressing four times to make sure I looked the part of the average teenager.

Black shirt, blue jeans, and a black hoodie for looks paired with my book bag almost made me look completely normal. If normal was skin so pale I was almost translucent, and hair so brown it looked like actual polished wood, but softer to the touch than any human hair. I laughed to myself. No, I could never be their version of normal. I wasn't even normal for my kind, how could I be normal to theirs?

I ran out to my car and headed out to start my first day of school. I had all basic level classes, except for Spanish. I had Spanish six, the highest level they had at the school. I spoke almost every language there was, in many different dialects, so why bore myself so much?

The town was a very small, with a main road and some off branches to other houses, some stores, and the school. It was just a few buildings put together and named as a school. It was simple, small, and somewhat cozy. Even after all these years I still preferred small places over big cities.

As I pulled in I glanced at the other cars, glad that other than a silver Volvo in the back, my car was pretty much as bland as the others. The engine might not be, but the outside was. I _knew_ immediately that the Volvo was the Cullen's car. They wouldn't drive a car that can't go over a hundred either.

I smiled and hoped that along with their diet they were also less aggressive than the other vampires. Otherwise, there might be a fight today. I pulled into the lot carefully, away from the Volvo and got out, heading to the building marked as the front office.

There was a nice lady inside who handed me a few papers to be signed and promptly sent me on my way without much fuss. It was nice. As I was walking to my first class, I was stared at by most of the student body. Small places like this had little to excite them, and a new student, especially one as strange as me, would definitely be exciting.

I just ignored them and went for my first class of the day, math. It was just a calculus class that seemed pretty easy to get by in. Class passed quickly and nothing happened. It was just bland. I sighed when I got out of there, heading straight to my next class.

There was a boy that kept asking me if I needed help finding my next class, and after I told him no for the fifteenth time, he decided to escort me anyways. I just followed him dutifully until he turned towards the wrong building. I split from him and went the right way. Young humans were strange.

My second period was my Spanish class. As soon as I walked in the door I was all but assaulted by the teacher, Mrs. Goff. She practically ran to me yelling in Spanish about how glad she was to meet me, and was so happy there would be another young smart one added to her class.

She proceeded to question me about how fluent I was and what were my strengths and weaknesses in the language. I just smiled kindly at her and answered all her questions quietly. I was completely fluent, I wasn't sure what my weaknesses were, and I hoped that I didn't have any.

At that she stopped talking and just smiled at me. I smiled back and told her I studied very hard, because Spanish was my favorite class. She just waved me into the room. I looked away from her and froze. How could I not have seen him, how could I not have smelled him? How could I not have heard him? There in the back of the room was sitting another of my kind.

He was just sitting there staring at me. I immediately searched for aggression in his face and posture. His eyes were a solid black, but other than that his face was quite blank. I supposed he may have been confused by my eyes and lack of heartbeat. With the loss of blood came the loss of color in my eyes. They had turned a nearly clear see-through color, and to hide them from humans I wore contact lenses.

I smiled slightly and went to find a seat. I didn't want him making a big scene in a classroom. It seemed like he didn't either. I continued to search for any sounds that he made that would alert me to a change in his decision of peace. I took a deep breath through my mouth and smelled the air. He was there among all the living scents.

He didn't smell quite as snake-like as most of our kind does. He smelled more like honey and moss. A strange mixture, but not at all unpleasant. I could hear his windy breath as his scent spread through the air. I knew what I smelled like to others of our kind. I smelled somewhat wrong, kind of like a rose petal shoved into a book for too long. I smelled very old, and very dangerous.

I heard the minute flexing of his muscles as they reacted to smelling something dangerous. Years and years of blood were behind me, life after life created me. I was dangerous, very, very dangerous, and yet, completely harmless. I was not here to hurt anyone.

I whispered to him so quietly no other would hear us.

"Goodmorning, I do not wish to alarm you and am hopeful that you will keep any aggressions you feel to yourself until after the school day has ended, at that point we may speak to one another civilly" I said to him, trying to convey that I did not wish for any kind of violence.

"At the end of the school day I will get the coven together and we can all sit down and have a civilized conversation. Until I know your true motivations, I don't think I can relax." He whispered back in a deep almost sultry voice.

"I'm here to help your family with your dieting skills." I said with a smile.

I could almost hear his frown of confusion. I turned my face just a bit to see him out of the corner of my eye. I gave him my best reassuring smile and turned back to my seat. I was quick so that no one around us would be able to tell what I had just done.

This class passed by almost faster that the others. Then came time for lunch. I watched as he stalked out of the room and towards the cafeteria. I was invited by a fellow classmate to join them for lunch. I joined them begrudgingly but wished I could just have a space to myself.

The rest of the school day went off without a problem, but I knew I would grow tired of the place. I was constantly surrounded by children and doing activities that held no interest to me. I hoped that any of my time there would pass quickly.

At the end of the day I followed the boy out the door and towards the parking lot. I suddenly _knew_ his name was Edward, and then the rest of his family's name and faces came to me. They were a lovely bunch.

I went straight to my car and watched as the other "children" piled into the car. They all gave me different looks, curious from the biggest one, hateful from the blonde female, calculating from the blonde male, and a bright smile from the smallest one. Emmet, Rosalie, Jasper, and Alice made up the bunch.

I followed their car as it swiftly left the lot and headed in the direction of their home. A few times I saw the wheels veer off into another direction a little, as if they weren't quite sure where to take me. Then I heard the little one, Alice, speak.

"She's not going to hurt us, so just take us to the house. She really is here to help us. Carlisle already knows her actually, he met her once, though I'm not sure if she remembers who she was meeting." She said nonchalantly.

The wheels of the car never veered again. We left the main housing areas of Forks and headed out into the farthest boundaries. Then we left the road all together. After winding about three miles away from the road we finally made it to their home.

If I had not lived in a castle for all those years I would thought that it was huge. But for seven vampires, their home was quite the quaint little place. I parked behind their and got out of the car a little slowly.

They were all lined up and staring at me. I knew that they were unsure of what to make of me. I thought it was almost funny. The one Jasper was sizing me up, and Emmet still just looked curious. Rosalie, she had fire in her eyes. Edward looked very confused. Alice was inside getting the other two.

When Carlisle and Esme came outside, everyone was taken aback by the gasp that Carlisle let out.

"Isabella? What, what-" He stuttered. Everyone else seemed more apprehensive from his actions.

"Carlisle, I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but I was on this side of the country and thought I would take a visit to come meet and help you and your family."

He just looked at me. I could see his thoughts turning and almost laughed

"I truly mean no harm. Besides, you couldn't restrain me or stop me even if they sent the whole guard." I said aloud frowning at him. They were being a little less violent than most, but really?

"So, you come to help us?" He said, finally smiling a little.

"It is so." I glanced at them all to see their minute reactions. They were silent.

"Well, would you please explain what it is you are here for?" He asked me while taking a few steps so he was at the head of their arrow-like formation.

"I told Edward that I was here to help you with your diet. That was the truth." I took a small step forward, but retracted it when Jasper let out a little growl.

I looked over to him and gave a small smile. "Be calm child, if I wished to harm or kill you, I would and there would be nothing you could do about it."

He only huffed in reply. He didn't believe me.

"She is quite right Jasper, so please be still," Carlisle said.

Jasper only glared. So they didn't have a strict leadership. That was fine.

"What do you mean by helping us with our diet?" Carlisle asked me.

"As you know, I do not need nor yearn for blood. I know you wish to stop feeding on blood and I am here to help you accomplish that." I told him.

He only nodded. He didn't ask me how, or if I could, just took my word for it. So he expected me to be honest and knowing. I was glad I wouldn't have to disappoint him.

"Please come in, let's not stand out here like a bunch of uncivilized creatures," Carlisle said after a few moments of silence.

I smiled politely and walked towards where he was retreating for the door. It did not pass my notice that all of the others waited until I was behind him before surrounding my back.

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	2. Chapter 2

I followed Carlisle indoors swiftly. I looked around me once we had entered. Nice, I thought. Somewhat quaint, but gaudy isn't exactly the greatest look to go with, even for vampires. We moved, almost seeming as one unit, towards a living room.

I saw that there were three living rooms in the house, all within small distances of one another. Who needed three living rooms? Such gaudiness was something I never truly understood, but again none of them had grown up in my time, where such things didn't even exist.

I sighed and took a seat in one of the chairs, in fact this must have been some kind of interrogation room, all the other chairs seemed to be placed closer to each other and facing towards the one I was currently sitting in.

"Isabella, please tell us exactly why you are here." Carlisle asked me.

"To teach you to survive as I do. I know that none of you wish to be blood drinkers. I have nothing better to do, and believe that this cause would help all of you, if you so wish."

I sighed and crossed my legs, smirking slightly when I saw nearly all of them react to the movement.

"To tell you the truth Carlisle, I've grown weary of life. I have nothing to do, nor any reason to be here. I am grasping at straws, looking for things that should be done before I go, and my abilities and ways of life are something I would like to leave behind. I will leave through the fires, if I truly can. I am neither human nor vampire, or anything else of this world. I do not belong here, and I am beginning to grow weary of it."

Carlisle nodded his head, looking confused.

"Are you saying you will be getting rid of yourself, of your life?" he asked me gently.

"There is no life that will be lost if I leave. There will be life lost if I do not help those I can before I go. That is what I am saying. I do not know exactly how I will do this, or how long it takes, but I've got forever, and I am willing to try. I would just like to know if any of you are." I told him.

I looked to each of their faces as I scanned their thoughts I could see on their faces.

Rosalie was glaring suspiciously. She seemed fiercely protective of her family. I respected that.

Emmet just looked confused, yet thoughtful. He truly did not understand anything that was going on, but he was trying to put together the pieces.

Alice was just smiling.She was a perky girl, most definitely in love with life.

Jaspers face seemed to be filled with wonder. Just the idea seemed impossible to him. He was struggling so hard. He was going to have to be the one I started on.

Esme, his loyal loving wife was just smiling at her husband patiently. She trusted him to handle everything as necessary. I had to push the yearning back as it fell on me.

I looked to Edward and was surprised to see him staring intently at me. What was he thinking? He has absolutely no expression on his face, in his posture, or on anything around him. He left me confused and weary.

"We appreciate the thought, I don't know exactly what my family thinks of it, but before they can throw you out, not that they could, I will ask my family to have you around for a few weeks to see if we can all get along amiably. I very much wish not to insult you, but we are very protective of each other." He said calmly.

I saw Jasper and Rosalies postures both tense and Rosalie scoffed. Jasper remained quiet and after a moment relaxed his posture a bit. Soon enough he seemed settled with the idea of letting me stay, though I knew he would watch me very closely.

Rosalie on the other hand was still screaming obscenities at me in her face and posture. She did not want me here. That she would kill probably attempt to kill me if I so much as laid a finger on any of her family. I just stared at her. She was so enraged she didn't even notice my gaze.

"Rosalie." I said evenly.

Her face went blank for a moment, then her eyes snapped to mine.

"I do not care if you want me here or not. I do not care about your husband, I do not care about your family. I will do as I wish, because I can. If you truly would like to kill me I give you all my approval to try and do so. I do not appreciate the way you are staring and scoffing at me. You do not know me, you do not want to know me. I am only made useless to those who do not take advantage of what I have to offer. Your father has allowed me to stay, so be a good daughter and listen to him. He understands so much better than you do what I am offering you." I told her calmly, speaking the truth.

She just stared at me, her face showing shock over my words. She huffed and turned her eyes to the ground. She was quiet. I smiled at her.

"Many before you have tried almost all measures to kill me, and if I do not fall to the fire, many after you will as well. I do not mean to brag, but there is not a single way you could harm a hair on my head if I did not wish you to. Accept it and move on, it will make things so much easier for all of us." I said, turning my attention back to Carlisle.

He was staring at me intensely. Had I been any lesser creature, I probably would have squirmed in my seat.

"Why exactly are you doing this then, Isabella? Especially if you truly do not care for any of us?" He asked in seriousness.

I sighed and looked at all of them, I was about to answer a question many had been asking for a long time.

"As I said before Carlisle, I truly do not wish the last 18,000 years I've spent on this earth to be a waste. 18,000 years is a long time for anyone to live, and I most certainly have grown tired of it. The world holds me no interest."

I heard a few gasps as I said that. It was an awfully long time to them. Even Carlisle, their oldest, wasn't more than a few hundred years old. I must have seemed ancient. Some believed me to be the first vampire, but I had only twice created another of my kind, both of them I had to kill soon after their creation. There was no possibility for me to have created every one's lives.

"So you really are as old as the dawn of civilization." Carlisle said.

"No, but I was pretty close." I chuckled.

"I do not know what to say, Isabella. I truly don't." Carlisle said, shaking his head before running his hand through his hair.

"You can start by calling me Bella. I do not like the name the Vulturi have given me, but do not know what else I should go by. They have been naming me for so long it has just seemed normal for them to change it at their whim." I shrugged.

"Bella then. Will you need a place to stay? We have plenty of rooms and would like to offer you one." He said, standing. I stood as well.

I had found my own place, deciding that it would be easier on them, but wasn't sure if it wouldn't just be better to stay here permanently because I already knew I would be here almost always.

"If there is no objection by your family, I would be glad to." I said, deciding to leave it up to them.

"Yes," said the one called Alice. She smiled at me brightly

"Why the hell not," called Emmet. He still had no idea what was going on. I found it humorous.

"For now," Rosalie said quietly.

"Of course, dear." Esme said aloud.

"Yes." Said Jasper he seemed calm and collected again.

I turned my head to Edward. So far it had been a unanimous vote, but he was the only one who's opinions I had gained no access to.

"Yes." He said finally, not adding to it. There was nothing in his tone suggesting his thoughts on the matter. I was irritated momentarily, but got over it and looked back to Carlisle.

"Well then, I suppose I should go and get my things from my house." I said calmly. Carlisle nodded.

"Edward, go with her and help her with her things." He said.

Edward just stared for a moment but then nodded and headed towards the door.

"I will see you all soon." I said and headed out the door as well.

What an adventure this could be. I followed Edward out the door and headed to my car, pausing when I did not hear his steps do the same. I looked over to him and smiled, he was waiting at his car. He looked at me for a few moments and sighed when I didn't make a move towards him. His hand came up and rubbed the back of his neck.

He walked over muttering a few words like 'of course' and 'seniority'. I smirked at him and slid inside the car. Edward folded himself into the seat, far against the door. I half expected him not to be able to close the door. I huffed in amusement.

I wasn't so bad. My smell caused fear almost as much as my name, but this little youngling surely couldn't understand that. Then again, he had access to the thoughts of thousands of others, he may understand the world just a little better than his age would suggest.

Whatever the state of his mind was, he needed to calm.

"Edward, please calm down, there is no need to fear me." I said in a very soft voice, lying to him. There was always reason to fear me.

Immediately, I saw as his shoulders sag, his body calming down completely. Just as quickly as he relaxed, he was again tense, perhaps even more than before. I sighed and started the car, pulling out of the Cullen's driveway and back into Forks.

"How do you do that?" Edward asked, his voice betraying his posture. It was calm, polite, even.

"Do what?" I asked back. I knew what he was talking about, but when you ask me a question, it must be direct, or I may give you answers you don't want to hear.

"Calm me with you voice that way. It felt like you were almost commanding me, and I had no choice but to obey." He said. I looked over at him, studying his features for a moment before looking back ahead of me.

"Truthfully, I do it because I can. I can go inside someone's head and tear them apart , or build them up. Make them my slave, or set them free from this world. The mind is a funny thing Edward, you of all people should know how complex they are. It is not an unusual thing when you have lived as long as I have. If you wish it, I could show you these things as well. Sometimes you only have to say something correctly to make it so." I told him, pulling up to the home I had discovered. It seems like a waste now.

I would not need it, but may enjoy making it into someone else's dream home instead. It would give me something to do if I ever got bored. I parked in the driveway and waited.

I just sat there in the driver's seat and looked at Edward. So young, probably older than me at his change, but he was still young. I wanted to be that young again. Though I could never truly remember a time where I lived as a young vampire because it was spent in the earth. Down deep where the sun never reaches.

"You can't hear what I'm thinking, can you?" Edward asked suddenly, pulling me out of my reverie.

"Why do you ask?" I asked him. I leaned back in the seat and continued to study his features.

"Because you seemed to know exactly how each of my family members were feeling at all times. You seemed in tune with everything about them." He said simply, watching me as I watched him.

"No, I cannot." I told him.

"Does it frustrate you?" He asked me.

"No. It does not. I know the mind of the world too well to really care; besides all you think is on your face, in your posture. You are like an open book Edward; I find it quite comforting to be able to use my reading skills in such a way. Hearing the thoughts of others would just become troublesome and annoying." I answered him softly.

"Troublesome, I can see that, but it isn't that bad." He said to me.

" I cannot remember a time when I have had silence. It is something I long for, one of the few things on this earth that I long for but will never be given, perhaps that may be why I long for them. Hearing the thoughts of others would just make it that much worse." I smiled.

"Never? You've never has silence? How far can you hear?" He asked me.

"Edward, I can hear almost everyone in the whole northern region of this state. As you age your hearing and sight grows exponentially. It is a tumultuous chatter at the back of my mind, like a river I can dip my head into when I want."

"Everyone, all the time." He said softly, awed.

"It is not a pleasant gift, but one that has come to my advantage many times." I said to him.

"It sounds completely awful. I don't enjoy the limited range on mine, let alone one such as yours. It could only be worse if you were hearing creatures on other planets." He said with a soft laugh.

I just stared at him.

"What if I did hear creatures on other planets?" I said solemnly. He just looked at me. We both stared at each other for a few moments. Then we both laughed quietly.

"Alright Isabella, we have been sitting here for nearly three hours t I believe my family may be worrying about us. We should get your things and head back." He said, opening the car door.

"I don't think we should return to the house for some time, they are all…" I paused, "relieving some stress, and I do not think you would wish to be privy to it." I told him. His expression turned sour.

"Of course, the moment they get me away from the house." He shook his head and sighed.

"Do not worry Edward, it is something all couples do, and something you will do when you find your other half." I told him.

I stood from the car and headed inside the house I would never live in.

"I do not need another half, I have mine right here." He pointed to himself.

I laughed.

"You are not complete by yourself, no one is. You will find your other half. Your soul mate, if you will. Human's and Vampire's alike have them, and need them. Humans just don't have the luxury of living long enough to find their other half most times." I went in the front doors and looked around.

Completely untouched, completely the same as I had left it. Even some of the dust motes had not moved.

"If so, then where is yours?" He asked sounding truly interested.

I froze for a moment. Where was mine? I sighed.

"I am neither vampire nor human, I have none. Only living things with souls could have a mate. I do not have a soul, so I cannot have a mate." I told him calmly.

I had been telling myself, and others, this for so long I almost believed it. But he, the one who waited, could never be torn from my mind. Was he my mate, or my end? I had wondered for so long.

"Vampires do not have souls, I have no soul, and how could we have mates?" He stated and asked.

"You have a soul, vampires have souls, humans have souls, animals have souls, and even the bugs that populate this earth have souls. Whether you want to believe me or not is your choice, but in my long years I have found this to be true."

He said nothing. I sat at the kitchen table and looked over to him. He stood in the front door and looked about him, paying attention to every detail. The house looked unlived in, and I knew it.

"You just arrived this morning, not long before school started."

"Yes, though even if I had arrived last week I doubt it would look any different." I told him truthfully.

I didn't tend to leave any traces of myself behind; there was nothing for me to leave. What do you do when you can do anything?

"Do you not have any hobbies?" he asked me seriously. I just stared at him.

"There is nothing that I have ever found to hold my interest. I try, believe me, I have tried so hard, but there is nothing that seems to hold me. I just seemed to lose interest in everything at some point. Blood, company, hobbies, anything that had before held my interest just died inside of me. I used to paint splendid pictures, but now I cannot seem to find interest in even mixing colors. The world has turned gray to me Edward, and I don't believe I will ever see colors in it." I told him quietly.

"I wonder when the world will lose all of its color for me as well; it has already faded at the edges." He told me.

"I hope it never does, it may fade, but someone or something will bring the world back to clarity for you, I am quite sure. There is nothing left when there are no colors." I said to him.

He only shrugged his shoulders.

"Let us go now, get your things. I don't care what they are doing, I am going to my home." He stood and went back outside.

I grabbed my things quickly before joining him next to the car. I smiled softly to him over the car before taking my seat behind the wheel. It would be a difficult time. A broken family trying so hard to be whole.

What a sad sight.

We returned to the Cullen home to find that everyone had already returned to other activities. All of them stopped what they were doing and went back to the living room when we arrived though.

"Your family is very attentive." I said to Edward.

"We are very afraid as well. We have a good life here, we do not wish it to be destroyed." He told me quietly.

"I do not wish to destroy it, but to merely make it better. I promise you that."

"Sometimes it's difficult to believe in promises." Edward answered me.

"Sometimes it's harder not to believe them." I told him.

We watched each other for a few moments longer. Edward looked away after a few moments and got out of the car. I just sat and watched as he walked inside. What was I doing here? I was not welcome, I was not even truly wanted.

I don't know what my intentions are, nor what I was going to do when I left this place. I knew I was just grasping at straws, trying to find my last hope. I was trying, so hard, to have a reason to live. As I stared out at this new home of mine, I could only hope that I would be able to find it, or at least the peace and solace to truly leave this world, once and for all


End file.
